Fresh off the “Linsanity” craze, Jeremy Lin hit the open market as a restricted free agent and acquired a three-year, $25 million deal. Because of the structure of his contract, Lin is one of the NBA’s best bargains.

Lin earns $5 million per season at the moment, one of the lowest price tags among starting point guards. Lin will earn $5 million per season in his first two years and $15 million in the third.

Jeremy Lin is one of the NBA's best bargains. (AP Photo)

Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey used the same deal to pry center Omer Asik away from the Chicago Bulls. Because of deals dedicated to larger stars, the Knicks and Bulls weren't willing to match the Rockets' offer with that third season.

Lin proved his value to Morey as a member of the New York Knicks in 2011-12. He scored 14.6 points, 6.2 assists and 3.1 rebounds in his second full season, including a run of 25 games that took the world by storm.

After sitting out all of January and February, Lin averaged 20.9 points and 8.4 assists in March as he pushed the Knicks to seven straight wins and a 10-5 record on the month. His performance helped the Knicks reach .500 and slide into the playoff picture. A knee injury kept Lin out of the playoffs, but he had done enough to gain the league's attention.

In his time with the Houston Rockets, Lin has continued to play solid basketball. He averaged 13.4 points, 6.1 assists and 3.0 rebounds in helping Houston to reach the NBA playoffs as a No. 8 seed.

Lin has outpaced expectations from Day 1. As a high school senior, he led Palo Alto High School to an upset win over national power Mater Dei for a Division II California state title, yet few colleges took notice and he decided to attend Harvard.

Over four years, Lin matured to the point where he averaged 16.4 points, 4.4 rebounds, 4.5 assists, 2.4 steals and 1.1 blocks for the Crimson. Lin went undrafted out of Harvard in 2010, but made a name for himself in the NBA’s Summer League. That performance was good enough to earn Lin a contract with the Golden State Warriors.

Predictably, there were bumps along the way. Lin was cut by the Warriors and his current team, the Rockets, before landing in New York. He didn’t let setbacks stop him, and now Lin has a chance to maintain a long career in the NBA.